A small N-scale layout with a prominently Japanese theme even if the majority of the early track time is dedicated to Thomas and Friends.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Rebuilding

There was an earlier version of this post, replete with anime and Godzilla movie monsters tearing through Shukuzu, but after the earthquake and tsunami it was obviously going to be in poor taste. If there is anything at all positive to be taken from the disasters in Japan, it's that they are guaranteed to recover from this, and that they will do so in their uniquely Japanese way. Clean up, regroup, and then start rebuilding, replacing two story buildings that were swept away with 10 story modern structures that will withstand the next disaster. It is a country trained in resurrecting itself every few generations.

We'll continue on with Shukuzu in the same way. The cute, antiquated surface lines are being upgraded to include an underground line, easing congestion on the surface streets and opening up additional land for housing and office high rises. A Shinkansen loop will encircle the city, opening up even faster transit routes for little plastic people who otherwise have no where else to go.

Construction has already begun and is progressing rapidly, at least according to the traditional time frames most building projects seem to take around here. A crude tool and overwhelming force can go a long ways.

And because I am a sucker for time lapse videos, especially when they use shift-tilt photography to heighten the sense of peering down on a small little world, another video of life in Tokyo. The streets of Tokyo have been darkened to save power, which you would expect would take some of the hustle out of the city at night but instead it just leads to more people apologizing politely for running in to each other.